Rep. Nugent OK with women serving in combat roles

Rich Nugent says he is OK with female soldiers serving in combat roles, as long as the decision doesn’t undermine the troops or their mission.

By Bill ThompsonStaff writer

One local lawmaker says he is OK with female soldiers serving in combat roles, as long as the decision to do so by the Pentagon brass doesn’t undermine the troops or their mission.

U.S. Rep. Rich Nugent, a Brooksville Republican recently appointed to the House Armed Services Committee, said a “fine line” separates oversight and micromanagement, and when possible, he is inclined to defer to the generals.

Women in combat appears to be one of those issues, Nugent, whose district includes most of Marion County, indicated in an email to the Star-Banner.

“They know their troops, and they know their mission better than the rest of us,” Nugent said.

“This country has been at war for the last 10 years, and during that time, women in our Armed Forces have served with bravery, capability and distinction,” he added.

“I have a great deal of respect for our military leaders when it comes to personnel decisions or anything else. The bottom line for me is that all of our policies ensure that our troops get the support that they need to complete their mission safely and successfully. That’s what counts.”

Nugent was responding to Thursday’s announcement by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that most combat-related jobs previously off limits to women would soon be opened to them.

The decision overturned a 1994 ban on allowing women into the military’s most hazardous occupations.

Panetta directed the military to submit their plans for integrating female troops into those positions by May 15.

The Pentagon’s chief set Jan. 1, 2016, as the deadline for fully implementing the plan.

The new policy also affects the elite of America’s military, as the U.S. Special Operations Command, based in Tampa, was included in the directive outlining the plan that Dempsey wrote on Jan. 9.

In that memo, Dempsey noted that the decision regarding female troops by the Joint Chiefs was unanimous.

At a news conference Thursday, Panetta said the new policy recognized the changing nature of combat, as dictated by missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to a report by Stars and Stripes, 152 women were among the more than 6,600 soldiers killed in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“They serve, they’re wounded and they die right next to each other,” Panetta told reporters on Thursday.

Overall, roughly 202,400 women serve in the U.S. military. That’s about 15 percent of the military’s 1.4 million active-duty personnel.

In the last 10 years, more than 280,000 women have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon.

Nugent, an Illinois Air National Guard veteran whose three sons have served in the Army, including in combat, said allowing women to serve in the most hostile environments should also be predicated on making sure they are fit to do so.

And he believes the Pentagon would not go forward without understanding that.

“If you can shoot straight, make sound decisions under fire and carry the soldier next to you off the battlefield, I have a lot of confidence in you,” he said. “So the key is that women who volunteer for these assignments absolutely need to meet all of the same physical and training requirements as their male counterparts — nothing less.

“The generals know that if they put anybody — man or woman — out on the battlefield who shouldn’t be there, it’s going to cost American lives. That’s something they are acutely aware of.”